(October 1) At 10:50 am on October 1, JTFD#1 and JTFD#2 were dispatched to a residence on Cozy Lake Road in the Milton section, near the Co. 1 substation for a working structure fire. Multiple callers were reporting a working fire at the time of dispatch.
Arriving units found a single story single family home with a well involved fire in an attached garage. First arriving engines took positions on the front lawn of the home to leave the roadway clear for a tanker shuttle operation, as the fire was in a rural area outside of the municipal water supply. Mutual aid tanker support was dispatched immediately by Chief Schmidt who had visual on the smoke from the fire during his response.
The fire had begun to extend to house and across the attic ceiling, charring a large area of the interior of the attic ceiling. Crews made an aggressive attack and upon encountering high heat in the attic of the home, made a quick decision to deploy the FIT-5 device. The FIT-5 was successful in immediately knocking down the fire in the attic ceiling area and reducing the temperature enough for the interior engine crew to enter the attack and knock down the hot spots. The garage was a total loss, but the house sustained mostly smoke and heat damage. This was the second successful use of the FIT-5 in an interior structure fire for JTFD#1; the first time was also the first time the device was used in the state of New Jersey and the first successful deployment in a basement fire in North America.
Units on scene were Engines 720, 722, 724 and 727, Tankers 723 and 714, Milton Ambulance and Jefferson Police with mutual aid from West Milford Companies 1, 2 and 4. Chief A. Schmidt (730) had command
Photos by and copyright Raymond Shattuck, WMFD Co 4, for more photos visit: http://www.wmfd4.org